https://padlet.com/sammystunner078/16jyyj5c4aeusrfg en-us 2021-12-09 15:37:50 UTC 2021-12-17 15:36:31 UTC hello@padlet.com sammystunner078 https://padlet.com/sammystunner078/16jyyj5c4aeusrfg/wish/1938529609 Week 1
I have chosen this song as it is one of  their faster paced songs and I believe that it will fit my playing style the most. For the song I will need to record the guitar tracks by both micing a guitar amp and by recording DI as I will need to use certain effect pedals that I do not possess in person. Johnny Stevens is known for having a vast array of pedals that he uses to flavour his tone when it comes to his solos, such as a "Big Muff" fuzz pedal, a DigiTech "Whammy" pedal that he uses on the solo for lost to shift it up an octave, a "Holy Grail" chorus pedal that is usually used for clean sections, the rest of his pedals are custom made pieces that he is very secretive about. He has used his American made Fender Stratocaster with a humbucker in the bridge for many years but has recently began using a custom build telecaster that his bassist built him. He runs all of this into a fender amp for that rich American sound that they are famous for. 

Week 2
This week I will start beginning to learn the song, unfortunately this week I have suffered an injury to my index finger on my right hand which has resulted in me getting stitches. Though I can still play with my middle finger instead, I will be a lot less articulate with my picking which is going to be a massive fall back due to the song I have chosen but I will still push on and try to play it as best as I can. I have found that I am fine throughout most of the song until it comes to the power chords as I have trouble getting the necessary attack needed without hurting myself as earlier in the week I played live and opened the stitches up again so I have had to be extremely cautious about how I play.

Week 3 
This week I am finally able to play as normal as I have had the stitches taken out, but this still means that I have to be careful with my playing as due to my injury, it has left me with a pretty large scar that is extremely sensitive to pressure, so playing hard is still out of the question but hopefully with time I can build up my resistance. Sadly due to a death in the family that has resulted in me having to travel back home, it means that I am not going to be near an amp for the next couple weeks, meaning that I will have to be practicing the song acoustically which is both a curse and a blessing. I can no longer try to get closer to the album tone but it has allowed me to work on any bad habits I have developed whilst learning the song. I am now working on the solo section and trying to play it at speed without it sounding untidy and sloppy. 

Week 4
I am finally now able to play guitar again without any pain, I have taken a small break from music whilst visiting family but I am now back to playing guitar. I am also now using a different rig, instead of using my epiphone and a line 6 amp, I have switched to my modified squire telecaster and my blackstar ID60 with the pedals that I was using with my last rig with a slight bit of tweaking as the blackstar doesn't have as much high end as the line 6 has. I have now decided how to do the solo section in the song, I am going to double track the solo section and with one of the tracks, I will shift it up an octave so that the section bounces off of itself. 

Week 5
I am going to start recording the midi drum tracks this week and record the bass. I am hopefully going to do this with one of my roommates as she has all of the logic extras that I need, I am doing this at home so that I don't feel pressured and don't rush myself. The main thing that I might find tricky is recording the midi drums, I have been thinking about trying to record every drum section individually

Week 6
This week, I have had to take some time out to learn a friend's choice of song for their performance for this module, so I have had to mainly focus on them at the minute. The song I am having to cover is "little monster" by royal blood, the good thing about this is that the band's both sound similar to one and other, so this allows me to develop some techniques that I was struggling with on my own song. This week I am going to start recording guitar tracks which should be pretty straight forward, I think I will double track the main guitar as it is a one guitarist band so I want to try and thicken up the sound just to give it more body. 

Week 7 
So far I have gotten the drums situated and the main guitar tracks, now I am going to work on recording the solo section, this shouldn't be too difficult as the solo is quite simple but I am going to have to pitch shift the guitar up an octave to match the original, this may cause the solo to be quite harsh sounding and will mean that I will have to use a more bass rich tone. Next week I am going to be recording the bass which might be difficult as the bass is pretty complicated and might take me a while to record, I might just end up trying to transcribe the bass myself to make it easier for me to play and dumb it down somewhat.

Week 8
This week me and a few friends have started a blues rock band called "Red Lace" we are mainly focusing on covering highly suspect songs for the time being and when we have played a live show together we will then start writing our own material. This isn't going towards our work but as we are covering highly suspect songs then that makes it relevant to my work. I have also managed to record the bass tracks, I have tried to play it as close to the original as possible but I have fallen short on some parts as I just can't play bass all that well and the bass for this song is quite noodley.

Week 9
I have finished all of the tracks and just have vocals left to record, I will try and do them myself but I have never had any vocal training so it definitely will not sound as good as the original but other than that I have everything else finished. I am now thinking of maybe playing my Les Paul on some of the guitar tracks just to add some more depth as the Tele sounds great but has a more trebley overdriven sound whereas the Les Paul has a more thicker tone that doesn't get too fuzzy when pushed through a high gain amp so I think I will use it as the rhythm sound just to hold everything together but have the volume quite low on the track just so that the guitars don't get too messy

Evaluation
For my WB02 piece, I have chosen to cover the song "Lost" by Highly Suspect, the reason I chose this song in the beginning was really to see how far I could push myself. The song did in fact push my playing level to its limits due to how fast the transitions are and the fact that you are always moving around the fretboard, I believe that my cover came out surprisingly well due to me choosing to do it by myself which if I were to look back on it, I would have much preferred to do it as a group performance just to spread the workload. 
What went well?
I believe that I am most proud about the drum sound in the cover as it has that roomy effect, but it can sound a bit weird throughout the song. I would like to have seen what a live drumkit would have sounded like instead but that would have meant delegating roles to other people which would just stress me out. 
I personally believe that the guitar tone was spot on and really had that grunt that I was looking for and felt that it was missing from the original piece, I think that if I was to re record the guitars, that I would perhaps try using a different guitar instead.
What I would do different?
I think that next time I do something like this I will try and get a band together instead because I spent almost a week trying to get good vocal takes for the song and I just couldn't get the right sound but I got as close as I was possible to, I would also track a live drum kit instead of midi to give it that more authentic and full sound. 
I also don't think the fact of me having to get medical treatment twice during this project helped much either with timing. 
I am still ecstatic with the results I got even with all the hiccups along the way, but this has mainly been a lesson on what I can and cant do so next time I don't spread myself too thin.


]]> 2021-12-09 15:39:10 UTC https://padlet.com/sammystunner078/16jyyj5c4aeusrfg/wish/1938529609 sammystunner078 https://padlet.com/sammystunner078/16jyyj5c4aeusrfg/wish/1952694908 Hazards:
- The amplifier I am using
- Volume of the room I am in 
- String breakages
- damaging my voice
Who might be harmed?:
- Me
How?:
-If the amp shorts out due to a power surge, there is a risk of me getting electrocuted
- If the volume is too high, I can run the risk of damaging my hearing 
- If a string breaks there is a risk of me getting cut due to it
- If I push my vocal capabilities too far, I can risk tearing a vocal chord 
Purposed control measures:
- Have my amplifier PAT tested and use a surge protector block to limit the risk of a surge 
- Either limit the time I subject myself to high volume situations or use the necessary ear protection 
- Regularly change stings and keep them corrosion free  
- Practice correct vocal warm up techniques to eliminate the risk of over exhausting my voice
Action by who?:
Me  ]]> 2021-12-16 22:22:28 UTC https://padlet.com/sammystunner078/16jyyj5c4aeusrfg/wish/1952694908 sammystunner078 https://padlet.com/sammystunner078/16jyyj5c4aeusrfg/wish/1952726775 Strengths: 
my strength during this project was the amount of drive I had towards this song as it was written by one of my favourite artists and someone who I aspire to be as a developing musician. I felt that this song also allowed me to have a little creative freedom when it came to playing technique as the original allows you to improvise, especially with the solo sections.
Weaknesses:
My weaknesses within the project was the fact that I had chosen to do this as a solo project when I really should have done it as a band piece, as I feel that the track may have suffered due to it because of the amount of stress I put myself under instead of delegating the roles to people who are actually proficient at what I need. 
Opportunities:
I now know that I can take on opportunities where it is a smaller project such as an acoustic piece or just a guitar instrumental without feeling too over pressured to the point of burning out, and know not to push myself this far again.
Threats: 
I have recognised that trying to do a project this elaborate again as a solo piece can lead to missing deadlines or severally affecting my health.]]> 2021-12-16 23:07:21 UTC https://padlet.com/sammystunner078/16jyyj5c4aeusrfg/wish/1952726775